Sevenoaks railway station

Sevenoaks railway station is on the South Eastern Main Line, serving the town of Sevenoaks, in Kent, England. It is down the line from London Charing Cross and is situated between and stations. Trains calling at the station are operated by Southeastern and Thameslink Railway|Thameslink].
Trains from the station run northbound to London Bridge, Cannon Street, Waterloo East and Charing Cross via Orpington, or to Blackfriars via Swanley and Catford; southbound trains run to Ashford International and Ramsgate via Dover Priory, or Tunbridge Wells and Hastings.

History

Sevenoaks railway station was opened on 2 March 1868. It was formerly known as Tubs Hill, after the adjacent area.
There is a second station to the north end of the town, on the branch to Swanley Junction, which opened on 2 June 1862; is named after a local inn which is now closed.
The two lines to Sevenoaks were electrified in January 1935. When the station was reconstructed in the 1970s, a new ticket office was built replacing the old wooden South Eastern Railway building. The largest version of the Southern Region D70 type glass box station, this reconstruction was designed by regional architect Nigel Wikeley. Two additional side platforms were also demolished.
Sevenoaks is part of the rail franchise which, post-privatisation, was served by Connex South Eastern. Subsequent to their franchise termination in 2003, due to poor financial management, services were operated by South Eastern Trains, a wholly owned subsidiary of the Strategic Rail Authority. On 1 April 2006, Southeastern, owned by Govia, took over management of the station as part of the new Integrated Kent Franchise.

Accidents

There have been two accidents at the station:

7 June 1884 – A double-headed freight train ran into the rear of another freight train at Tub's Hill station. Both crew of the first train were killed. The signalman was charged with causing their deaths. The trains were being worked under the time interval system.
24 August 1927 – the Sevenoaks railway accident. River class tank locomotive No. 800 River Cray derailed at Shoreham Lane between Dunton Green and Sevenoaks. Thirteen people were killed and 20 were injured. The locomotives were withdrawn and rebuilt as tender locomotives.

Platforms

There are two island platforms – 1 & 2, and 3 & 4:

Platform 1 – Northbound fast trains fast to London Bridge, Waterloo East, London Charing Cross and London Cannon Street
Platform 2 – Slow trains starting/terminating at Sevenoaks to London Charing Cross and London Cannon Street, via Orpington and Lewisham
Platform 3 – Southbound trains via Tonbridge
Platform 4 – Thameslink trains, which all start/terminate here

Services

Services at Sevenoaks are operated by Southeastern and Thameslink, using,,,, and electric multiple units.
The typical off-peak service in trains per hour is:

4 tph to London Charing Cross
2 tph to London Charing Cross via and
2 tph to London Blackfriars, via Catford
2 tph to Hastings, via Tunbridge Wells
1 tph to Dover Priory
1 tph to Ramsgate, via

Additional services, including trains to and from London Cannon Street and Ramsgate, via, call at the station during peak hours. In addition, the service to London Blackfriars is extended to and from, via.

Passenger representation

The not-for-profit Sevenoaks Rail Travellers' Association corresponds and meets with Southeastern Railway, Transport for London, the Department for Transport, MPs and other relevant parties to represent the interests of passengers using Sevenoaks and nearby stations.